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Alberta snapshot: Ice falls at Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary.

No need to leave the city to find ice falls! A quick wintery stroll in Fish Creek Provincial Park in early March yielded this frosty view. (If you live in or are visiting Calgary next winter and you’re looking to check these out, head to the ranch house off of Bow Bottom Trail SE and hike across the first bridge you see from the parking lot. Follow the river to see the falls, or climb above them to reach some cool caves).

It seems that the big spring melt may finally (!) be on its way, so this area will be taking on a more liquid form very soon….

It’s a small frozen waterfall (often colloquially referred to as ice falls, although that’s a term more technically associated with a specific type of freezing on glaciers). You’re definitely correct in stating that the ice expanded as layers were formed over months of freezing. The trees would be on an outcrop of creek bank that we can’t currently see because of all the ice.

I went to visit Athabasca Falls outside of Jasper, in the winter, a few years ago. It was quite the frozen beauty, especially the caverns that had open water. Must have been a wonderful experience for you. 🙂

Although I live so close, I have never seen Athabasca Falls in the wintertime, only in the summer – that would have been a truly spectacular sight! I must make a point of heading out there this coming winter!